BOSTON  School officials in western Massachusetts didn't follow all the anti-bullying advice they were given months before a harassed freshman girl committed suicide, according to a consultant who offered the tips.

Barbara Coloroso said she consulted with parents and administrators months before 15-year-old Phoebe Prince hanged herself in January. Authorities say she endured months of verbal assaults and threats, mostly in school and in person, although some of the bullying occurred on Facebook and in other electronic forms.

"The questions to ask are: Did they follow their own rules and did they keep Phoebe safe? Obviously not. And, did they deal effectively with the bullies? Obviously not," Coloroso told The Associated Press Tuesday.

Nine fellow students face charges in connection with the girl's death, including two teen boys charged with statutory rape and a clique of girls charged with stalking, criminal harassment and violating Phoebe's civil rights. School officials won't be charged, even though authorities say they knew about the bullying.

School officials have not returned messages left by The Associated Press.

Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who announced the charges Monday, said the events that occurred between September and Phoebe's death Jan. 14 were "the culmination of a nearly three-month campaign of verbally assaultive behavior and threats of physical harm."

Scheibel said the case is still under investigation and that one other person could be charged. It's unknown whether the teens who have been charged have attorneys.

Schiebel refused to discuss the circumstances of the rape charges.

No school officials are being charged because they had "a lack of understanding of harassment associated with teen dating relationships," and the school's code of conduct was interpreted and enforced in an "inconsistent" way, Scheibel said.

"Nevertheless, the actions  or inactions  of some adults at the school are troublesome," she said.

Phoebe was born in Bedford, England and moved to County Clare, Ireland, when she was 2. She moved last summer to South Hadley because the family had relatives there.

Her family has since moved away and could not immediately be located for comment.

(This version DELETES old comments from an anti-bullying expert that were incorrectly attributed to the AP.)

Stuff like this really saddens me. Over the years I have really changed the way I act towards bullies. I used to just sit there, and watch others get bullied being too scared to bring the attention upon myself. However, today I really try to make an effort to stick up for anyone when they are getting mistreated like this. I think it is important to understand people do take things differently, and some people cannot take much harassment before they resort to measures like she did. That is why it is best to follow the golden rule: To treat everyone how you would like to be treated.

talked about this in english class today [doing article response], not really that much of a surprise. bullying is a problem with youth these days, and it can in fact, bring people towards harming themselves, or even killing themselves. i'm not saying that they should be prosecuted under the law for attempted murder, even if them being "mean" led towards it; I just think it's a very large jump from bullying -> persuading someone to kill themselves.

the other charges should be taken more seriously though [not that attempted murder shouldn't be]; rape, civil rights violations [lmfao], and others as well.

"Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy, enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically. That’s kinda cool! That makes me smile and I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It’s not that we are better than the universe, we are part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.” - Neil deGrasse Tyson

If you get bullied just fight back(even if they just call you names. just smack them) when youre not strong, just hit them with a chair. Losing a fight aint a shame it will gain you respect. And eventually they will leave you alone.

If you get bullied just fight back(even if they just call you names. just smack them) when youre not strong, just hit them with a chair. Losing a fight aint a shame it will gain you respect. And eventually they will leave you alone.

It is no surprise to me that someone who promotes violent revenge doesn't know how to read.

If you get bullied just fight back(even if they just call you names. just smack them) when youre not strong, just hit them with a chair. Losing a fight aint a shame it will gain you respect. And eventually they will leave you alone.

Sometimes works, sometimes the bully gets his friends together and tries to stab you. Could go either way.

Nine fellow students face charges in connection with the girl's death, including two teen boys charged with statutory rape and a clique of girls charged with stalking, criminal harassment and violating Phoebe's civil rights. School officials won't be charged, even though authorities say they knew about the bullying.

Nine fellow students face charges in connection with the girl's death, including two teen boys charged with statutory rape and a clique of girls charged with stalking, criminal harassment and violating Phoebe's civil rights. School officials won't be charged, even though authorities say they knew about the bullying.

I would say this is worse than "bullying".

Mmh, and I do like how the article implies it is the teachers at fault for ignoring anti-bullying advice. There's very little a teacher can do to stop bullying; at best it moves out of school and into the streets. If this escalated to rape, then I somehow doubt talking to the class about how bullying is wrong would have helped the situation.

most teachers do. I remember in 10th grade my classmates were calling me that chink who couldn't see and asked me the question "Can you see?" pissed me off so much. My counselor even emailed by teacher and she didn't do squat!

most teachers do. I remember in 10th grade my classmates were calling me that chink who couldn't see and asked me the question "Can you see?" pissed me off so much. My counselor even emailed by teacher and she didn't do squat!

Well in the cases that they don't they should. I know that they should not be responsible for being some kind of peer mediator, but if they are suspicious of someone being depressed it could save someones life by reporting it to the principal, guidance office, parents, ect... The real root of the problem is bullying itself though. That is one of the few things in life that I am not sure will ever go away.

And at South Philadelphia High School, Asian students say they've endured relentless bullying and racial epithets by black students while school officials ignored their complaints.

Haha I remember that crap. Dude that messed with me when I was a freshman ended up getting stabbed at lunch.

stat rape can happen until both are legal and consenting eighteen year olds. I think [at least in my state], there has to be a two year difference or less [16 + 18 year olds, something along those lines], for it to be legal. but it's different from state to state, so I wouldn't really know 100%.

"Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy, enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically. That’s kinda cool! That makes me smile and I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It’s not that we are better than the universe, we are part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.” - Neil deGrasse Tyson

Bullying happens in all schools/colleges. Can't hold the teachers responsible for what happens on facebook or myspace or when the girl is walking home. However if it happened in the school premises, or they knew it was going on and had reached suicidal proportions, and still failed to act then they are responsible as teachers.

I think ragging is largely ignored because it tends to be harmless and light.

stat rape can happen until both are legal and consenting eighteen year olds. I think [at least in my state], there has to be a two year difference or less [16 + 18 year olds, something along those lines], for it to be legal. but it's different from state to state, so I wouldn't really know 100%.

Girl that killed herself (assuming...) was 15 so that's a two year difference. DA probably just being a female dog and throwing more extreme charges around for the media. But it doesn't make sense that if both parties are minors it's considered statutory rape because you aren't seriously gonna charge two people with raping each other.

I'm feeling good
I feel oh so fine
Until tomorrow but that's just some other time

Just saw this on the news today again on a story about people saying hurtful things on the internet. Apparently even now that she is dead, the bullies are still posting hurtful comments on her Facebook memorial page. Just makes me sick.

If you get bullied just fight back(even if they just call you names. just smack them) when youre not strong, just hit them with a chair. Losing a fight aint a shame it will gain you respect. And eventually they will leave you alone.

Sometimes works, sometimes the bully gets his friends together and tries to stab you. Could go either way.

~Lil~

Correct. You can either step away, stay silent, and endure the pain with the hope that the bully will ceaser or you could fight back. Fighting back is a terrible option IMO.

Majingokulv4, on 31 March 2010 - 03:50 PM, said:

Just saw this on the news today again on a story about people saying hurtful things on the internet. Apparently even now that she is dead, the bullies are still posting hurtful comments on her Facebook memorial page. Just makes me sick.

NBC made it worse by broadcasting the whole thing. Had they not broadcasted it, the trolls would have ceased to fight back (possible lack of comebacks). However, NBC just dropped a freighter of Gasoline on the whole situation.

NBC made it worse by broadcasting the whole thing. Had they not broadcasted it, the trolls would have ceased to fight back (possible lack of comebacks). However, NBC just dropped a freighter of Gasoline on the whole situation.

We don't know that for sure. What we do know though is that the public can be more aware of her story, and hopefully it can cause some bullies to think twice before they harrass others. Either way her story should be heard.

NBC made it worse by broadcasting the whole thing. Had they not broadcasted it, the trolls would have ceased to fight back (possible lack of comebacks). However, NBC just dropped a freighter of Gasoline on the whole situation.

We don't know that for sure. What we do know though is that the public can be more aware of her story, and hopefully it can cause some bullies to think twice before they harrass others. Either way her story should be heard.

Trust me. I joined her facebook group about 2 days after she had committed suicide. It had around 250 people in it, and at 5:28 PST, it's approaching 31,000. Most of these people are the ones that harass and bully in public and in private. Heck, the first 3 pages of user submitted posts are all why the bullied who die should "go to hell".

Posting her story in a positive (meaning not bashing on her) and supporting her would be appropriate. Including 2 minutes of extra bashing against trolls just made the situation 10,000 times worse.

There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it I have now surpassed. My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone, in fact I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape, but even after admitting this there is no catharsis, my punishment continues to elude me and I gain no deeper knowledge of myself; no new knowledge can be extracted from my telling. This confession has meant nothing.